Several
Arab analysts and political figures, however, were sceptical about
Bush’s words on the roadmap, particularly at this crucial time of
mounting world popular and official opposition to his looming aggression
on Iraq.
“The
announcement is nothing but a fresh American attempt to snatch the
backing of certain countries in the Arab region, especially the Saudi
Arabia, to its potential offensive against Iraq,” Mohamed Al-Sayyed
Said, Director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies,
told IslamOnline.net.
“Bush
wants to force Saudi Arabia to change its opposition to his country’s
war plans or at least undermine this objection,” said the expert,
adding that the success of the announcement depends on this point.
Said
added that Bush’s statement is just an attempt to “absorb anger at
national and international levels as to his administration’s apathy
with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while keeping a high profile on
the Iraq issue.
The
highlight of a possible presentation of the roadmap also do a service to
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is under fire at home from even
his party members and facing threats of resignations in his government,
Said noted.
Israel,
which like the United States has long denounced Arafat's grip on power
and refused to deal with him because of alleged corruption and links to
resistance groups, hailed Bush's stance.
Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's diplomatic adviser said Bush was aiming to
push the Palestinians to empower their future Prime Minister, said AFP.
"Bush
said to the Palestinians they must clean their house by granting
effective powers to their future Prime Minister so as to sideline Yasser
Arafat, and if they want to be part of the new Middle East after the war
in Iraq," Zalman Shoval said.
"We
basically see eye to eye with President Bush on the importance of the
Palestinian Prime Minister," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman
Yonatan Peled said Friday evening.
"Once
there is a new Palestinian premier and once he begins taking action,
then the roadmap is definitely something which we plan to discuss."
Arafat
agreed last month to appoint a premier in the face of heavy
international pressure to reform. He offered the post to his deputy,
Palestine Liberation Organization number two Mahmud Abbas, who said he
would accept if the job had teeth.
Palestinian
officials, meanwhile, had a lukewarm response to Bush's statement, which
sparked accusations the U.S. president was just trying to placate the
Arab world ahead of attacking Iraq.
"Bush
has so far said nothing about the implementation of the roadmap,"
said top Arafat adviser, Nabil Abu Rudeina. "Anything short of that
will not yield any results. It is not enough."
"It's
time to turn the political vision of Mr. Bush into reality on the
ground," added chief negotiator Saeb Erakat.
Meanwhile,
in the West Bank, 10 Palestinian resistance fighters, including eight
members of the Islamic resistance group Hamas and two other wanted men,
were abducted by the Israeli army, military sources said.
In
another development, Palestinian security sources said all men aged
between 15 to 35 had been barred by Israel from leaving the territories
for an indefinite period of time. The army could not immediately confirm
the information.
The
ban came into effect Saturday and is open-ended, the sources said,
adding that it could be linked to the looming prospect of a U.S.-led
strike on Iraq.
Following
the ban, a hundred Palestinians were turned back at the Rafah border
crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the sources said.
"This
is a new escalation in Israel's aggressive policy against the
Palestinian people, and we can except other repressive measures as the
war in Iraq is nearing," said Erakat.
Israeli
military sources told AFP however that the Rafah border was closed
Saturday to Egyptians rather than Palestinians for "security
reasons," but they did not elaborate.
